Scent Theorysniff sniff sniff sniff

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What is Scent?Each human sheds about 40,000 rafts of skin per minute

What is a Skin Raft?

cornflake like skin cell clusters that may also have:

bacteria, fungi, parasitessweat, enzymes, hormonespersonal hygiene products

Some are lighter than air and travel far in air currentsSome are heavier and settle on the ground

Bacteria that feed on skin rafts are different for every personDogs can smell the difference

So how does scent move?

Skin rafts are carried in currents of airPay attention to the movement of air

Scent and Physics

warm air rises (light)cool air sinks (heavy)

Air is made heavier

Cold - it becomes denserMoisture - humidity

Macro effects

general trendsa prevailing wind helpful with a subject that has been stationary for a longtime

Micro effects

Your sector down to where you are standingscent can move in different directions within a few feetmovement can be different at dog’s nose level

Diffusionin still air - scent moves evenly in all directions from its source.

Laminar Flowstraight flow of air not interfered with by anything

Turbulent Airflowlaminar air hits an obstacle that creates chaotic behavior

building

Turbulent Air

Is the cause of all our scenting nightmares

#@*%!

$^#*!

Types of Air Movements

knowing different patterns of air movement will help you:

correctly analyze potential problems --So you can--

Set your dog up for success

Normal Daytime Air

Normal Nightime Air

Coning Plumes

movement of scent from subject downwind in the shape of a coneduring cloud covered days or nightstravels long distancesideal for dogs

Coning Plumes

Fumigating Scent

in the morning before sunupscents travel down valleys like watersubjects on a hill can be detected by dog down belowGet dogs out before sunrise

Fumigating Scent

Lofting

after sun setsground is cooling but aloft air is warmusually valleys first then other areas later onWork dogs on the high ground in the evening

Lofting

#@*%!

Fanning Plumes

at night in stable airscent holds at the same elevation leveldog may alert across a canyon at the same level, but cant find a personReport your alerts

Fanning Plumes

?

Pooling Scent

collects in an areausually a low arealittle dispersal of scent by the windhard for dog to follow to the subject

Pooling Scent

?

Eddying Scent

circular air forms behind an objectprevents scent from traveling along prevailing windexample: eddies form at a line of trees next to an open field

Eddying Scent

?

Looping Plumes

clear sky or with high cloudsat midday, a high convection situationscent rises, cools, falls, heats up, rises, cools, falls, etc.Dog will alert by putting his head up, but will lose the scent.

Looping Plumes

?

Chimney Effect

air currents move straight up an objectalerts may occur nearby -but-makes it impossible for dog to find subjectcheck around tall objects in the area

Chimney Effect

?

Thermocline

cause by significant temperature and humidity differences in short distanceschanges in elevationdrastic changes in shade and sunny spotscreates a wall like barrier of scent

Thermocline

What affects scent movement?

windhumiditytime of daytemperatureweatherterrain

vegetationtime of yearobstaclesthermals

Use what you know in HOW you search

A search dog team will prefer to search into the wind

Zigzagging into the wind on small areas

parallel sweeps across the wind on larger areas often along ridges and downhill with normal daytime updrafts

See you in the woods!

WOOF!

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